The Escape Artists podcasts are again doing their Artemis Rising series. This is my second time participating in Artemis Rising–the first being “Mr. Quacky in Space” at Cast of Wonders–and this year, I’m in it twice: First at Podcastle, with a reprint and cast of “Starr Striker Should Remain Capitol City’s Resident Superhero, by Keisha Cole, 10th Grade Student” (originally published at Daily Science Fiction, but now part of a double feature with Hester J. Rook’s “All the Fishes Singing”), and second with an original, “Wordslinger, Wordwreaker,” again at Cast of Wonders.

I feel these stories make a good combo for my participation in Artemis Rising, even though the formats are very different. “Starr Striker” of course is written as a high school essay, whereas “Wordslinger” is a frame story told not by the protagonist, Nightingale, but another character named Bertha.

However, both protagonists use words to fight, to resist: Keisha Cole in “Starr Striker” to oppose the misogyny and racism she witnesses in her city, and more personally in her own classroom, and Nightingale to oppose… well, to a certain extent, it’s also opposing misogyny and racism, though she’s also seeking “retribution,” as she terms it, for her sister. 

“The power of words” is not a new idea or motif. And it’s very true that words, rather than actions, get you only so far. 

But at this point, I’m 25 weeks pregnant with my first child, a girl, and I’m beginning to think about the words I want her to hear, about the ideas I want her to absorb. I wrote both these stories before I became pregnant. Even so, when my daughter is old enough for them, I think these are stories that I’d be happy for her to hear: that words do have power, that she can have a voice, that she can effect change, that her words matter.

I’m proud of both these stories. I’m glad for “Starr Striker” to have another breath at Podcastle, and I’m delighted to share Nightingale with the world for the first time. I hope you enjoy them, too.

Linkage repeat:

“Starr Striker Should Remain Capitol City’s Resident Superhero, by Keisha Cole, 10th Grade Student” 

“Wordslinger, Wordwreaker”